Annie Lennox Chooses Hope

Over the past few years, the Global Citizen Festival has cemented its status as one of New York’s cultural highlights. The free concert in Central Park, which aims to end extreme poverty by 2030, has featured a number of talented performers in the past including Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, and Kendrick Lamar.

This year, the Global Citizen Festival is expanding into a full-fledged week of advocacy events. Running from September 17 to September 23, Global Citizen Week will host several panels focused on the global movement to end poverty, featuring political activists, entrepreneurs, and artists from all over the world. The event will culminate with the annual Global Citizen Festival, headlined by Stevie Wonder, Green Day, the Killers, the Lumineers, and the Chainsmokers. And on September 18, there will also be a special event, called Global Citizen Live!, to honor singer Annie Lennox, who will be presented with the George Harrison Global Citizen Award for excellence in music and activism throughout her career.

“The beauty and power of George’s music continues to inspire millions of people with his social, political, universal message for a more sustainable, peaceful world,” Lennox said in a statement to Vogue. “At a time when it appears we are facing more challenges than ever before, we need to embrace the notion of global citizenship. That means choosing hope over despair; responsibility over indifference; feminism over misogyny; and respect, love, and kindness over bigotry, division, and hatred.”

Lennox later continued: “We have so many resources that can be used to make a contribution to transformative change, and it starts with each of us. I believe that everyone, individually or collectively, can make a difference to the goal of addressing the issue of extreme poverty through the eight entry points of water and sanitation; food and hunger; health; environment; girls and women; education; finance and innovation; and citizenship. I’m very grateful to be able to share and amplify this message, and am truly honored to be part of the ethos of George’s vision, which I endorse with all my heart.”

For more information about the George Harrison Global Citizen Award and the 2017 Global Citizen Festival, visit globalcitizen.org.